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As a way of sponsoring experimentation in the use of information technology in instruction and learning, Harvard's Office of the Provost provides assistance in the form of innovation funds to support novel applications of IT. In this interview, faculty member Jim Honan and Programs in Professional Education associate director Joe Zolner, recipients of one of the innovation grants, discuss the use of virtual exercises conducted at a distance with participants in a professional education seminar as a complement to traditional, residential professional development.
Q: Can you describe the residential professional development component as well as the new virtual exercises you designed to augment it? What kind of leverage did the virtual exercises provide? Honan: Each year, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) collaborates with our Harvard Institutes for Higher Education to present the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians, which is a professional development opportunity designed for library directors. As part of our pilot, we created, tested, and evaluated a series of IT-enabled, online pre-institute and post-institute learning environments designed to enhance and extend the teaching and learning context offered through the traditional residential program.
As part of the virtual, pre-institute exercise, we invited participants to identify a leadership challenge they planned to bring to the institute and, prior to coming to the residential program here, to convene online with members of a small discussion group to discuss this issue. To achieve this, we used online discussion tools and video-conference-based interactions. We built on the exercise once they came to campus by having them develop an action plan and continuing their small-group dialogues face-to-face. After the institute, we enabled participants to continue these discussions with each other, assessing the implementation of their action plans and reflecting on related issues. The leverage provided by the virtual exercises illustrates how technology can be used to create and maintain connections between participants before and after a residential executive education program. The pilots we conducted with ACRL participants (and later with IEM partcipants) gave us important glimpses of the advantages and disadvantages of working in virtual environments. The main advantage of using technology-based tools is their ability to provide alternative ways to engage practitioners with limited amounts of time. They require no travel time and they provide the opportunity for reconvening on a more frequent basis. The downside is that, simply put, busy professionals find it challenging in their work environments to make time to use these tools. Mere access doesn't translate to a significant advantage unless you have the time to make it happen. Additionally, sometimes professionals just want to spend time in the room with other professionals and that's what motivates them to participate, so distance education is not as appealing for that reason. Zolner: We also experimented with online polling, conducting a pre-arrival poll of participants. Questions were designed to gather data/experiences/perceptions on several topics related to the program curriculum so faculty could then fold this information into their teaching plans. In addition to the educational/curricular dimensions, there was also a valuable logistical aspect to these projects. Instead of transmitting information exclusively via hard copy, our institute Web sites enabled electronic submission of professional profiles, photos, advance assignments, and the like. Much of this information was then posted on the site prior to folks arriving for the face-to-face experience. So, participants were able to "meet" their classmates via seeing their pictures and reviewing their professional backgrounds before arriving in Cambridge. This feature enhanced the esprit de corps of the participant group while also making life much easier logistically for us in gathering and organizing the many pieces of participant information needed to make our institutes work. Q: What findings from the project most surprised you? What is the feasability of maintaining the connections with participants once they have returned to the contexts of their home institutions? Honan: The conventional wisdom on these matters is that it's in the technology that things go awry. I was surprised and encouraged, however, by the strength of the tools we used. With very few exceptions, all of the technological innovations we piloted worked flawlessly—from the online discussion tools, to the video-conference-based interactions and the videostreamed lectures. Instead, the barriers that arose in our work were less technical and more human. Maintaining connections (virtual, in-person, etc.) with participants in residential executive education programs continues to be a challenge. Time is a scarce resource and participant interest in and expectation for continued connection beyond the residential experience varies. Zolner: Another challenge to consider is that of scalability. Though all of our pilots were well-received by those who participated, a relatively small number of people were involved in the post-institute parts of our work. Over the long term, we will have to figure out how to make cost-effective the focus of significant post-program faculty and administrative resources on a rather small number of people. Q: Casting your mind out five years to 2009, how does this change the way professional education is conducted at HGSE? Honan: Looking ahead, I could envision future pilots to test this type of technological innovation in residential executive education. A few programs at Harvard have done this type of work, but not many. This is an ongoing challenge in executive education generally: how do you design effective enhancements to the traditional in-person offerings? Chris Dede here at HGSE predicts that there will be a hybrid feel to the design of professional education in due time but that won't happen tomorrow. Q: How has HGSE's Learning Technologies Center made this kind of research possible? Honan: The LTC and its staff members were extremely helpful. They provided support for videoconferencing and critical technical assistance/advice on various aspects of our pilots. For More Information
HGSE News, Harvard Graduate School of Education
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